Maybe you’ve never played what is, inarguably, the best series of empire-building games ever created, and want to see what all the fuss is about. Or maybe you’ve been meaning to try that Vikings expansion pack. If any of the above fit, now is the time: Aspyr has cut the prices of all their Civilization titles by half to coincide with the release of the Civilization V: Gold Edition.

This means everything, from Civilization III ($5) through Civ V ($20), and everything in between, is on sale. Highly recommended: Civilization IV, the best of the series (arguably this time), is $10 at the Mac App Store, or $7 directly from Aspyr’s GameAgent site. Most of the other titles, like Civ 3, can only be found at GameAgent.

For $50, the Civilization V: Gold Edition includes all the expansion packs ever created for Civ 5, and then some (it’s only available from the GameAgent site or Steam):

About the author

When he was eight, Eli Milchman came home from frolicking in the Veld one day and was given an Atari 400. Since then, his fascination with technology has made him an intrepid early adopter of whatever charming new contraption crosses his path — which explains why he's Cult of Mac's test editor-at-large. He calls San Francisco home, where he works as a journalist and photographer. Eli has contributed to the pages of Wired.com and BIKE Magazine, among others. Hang with him on Twitter.

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